The second public hearing for the FFY 2015–2019 Consolidated Plan, including the 2015-2016 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) budget, will be held by the Village Board of Trustees on March 2, 2015.  Following adoption by the Village Board, the Consolidated Plan will be submitted to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for review and approval.  HUD may take up to 45 days to review the Consolidated Plan.  Upon approval, HUD will provide a Grant Agreement for the Federal FY 2015 CDBG entitlement funds.  In order to allow for the 45-day review period and execution of the CDBG Grant Agreement by the beginning of the Village’s next fiscal year, it is necessary that the Annual Action Plan be adopted on March 2nd.

The draft FFY 2015 – 2016 CDBG budget (included in the draft 2015 - 2019 Consolidated Plan) that was reviewed at the first public hearing on January 12, 2015 was based on an estimated FFY 2015 CDBG grant allocation from HUD. Since the first public hearing, the Village received notification of its final FFY 2015 CDBG grant allocation. The final allocation of $240,332 is $9,378 less than the Village estimated. Therefore, the recommended 2015-2019 budget amounts have been adjusted according to the contingency plan outlined in the draft 2015 – 2019 Consolidated Plan. A spreadsheet showing the adjustments is attached.  

The version of the 2015-2019 Consolidated Plan also differs from the draft version provided for the first public hearing in the following ways:  

1.  As per HUD’s requirements, the text and information in the Consolidated Plan has been entered into an on-line template provided by HUD through the Integrated Disbursement and Information System (IDIS). Due to space limitations within the template, some sections of the draft template have been summarized.  

2.  Since the January 12, 2015 public hearing, data that is specific to Arlington Heights was provided by the Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County and the Housing Authority of the County of Cook. This more specific and accurate data has been substituted for earlier estimates and data for broader geographic areas.  

3.  The Annual Action Plan, which is the last section of the Consolidated Plan, has been completed in detail and contains the allocations as recalculated to reflect the actual FFY 2015 CDBG grant amount.  

At the first public hearing, there was a discussion concerning whether the $1,410 request from WINGS (modification to the Safe House’s security system) is eligible for 100% funding from the Village since only a portion of the clients served by WINGS are Arlington Heights residents. Staff sent justification for this expenditure to HUD. This justification explains WING’s estimates that the annual cost for serving Arlington Heights residents each year at Safe House is approximately $18,300 and the draft allocation to WINGS for public services ($2,935) plus the Safe House improvement ($1,410) covers only portion of the benefits received by Arlington Heights residents. HUD has not yet responded to this justification. Since it is a relatively small budget item, staff recommends leaving the allocation in the budget to allow HUD to review the item as part of the overall review of the 2015-2016 Annual Action Plan. The funds can be re-budgeted later, if necessary.

RECOMMENDATION

Following consideration of public comments received during the public hearing, it is recommended that the Village Board of Trustees adopt the Federal FY 2015–2019 Consolidated Plan, including the 2015-2016 CDBG budget, and authorize staff to forward the 2015-2019 Consolidated Plan to HUD for review and approval.